De-suck the NTP a bit more:

chrome/browser/resources/ntp/apps.js

 // Copyright (c) 2010 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 // found in the LICENSE file.
 
 function getAppsCallback(data) {
   logEvent('recieved apps');
   var appsSection = $('apps-section');
   var appsSectionContent = $('apps-section-content');
   var appsMiniview = appsSection.getElementsByClassName('miniview')[0];
   appsSectionContent.textContent = '';
   appsMiniview.textContent = '';
 
+  if (data.apps.length == 0) {
+    appsSection.classList.add('disabled');
+    return;
+  }
+
   data.apps.forEach(function(app) {
     appsSectionContent.appendChild(apps.createElement(app));
   });
 
   appsSectionContent.appendChild(apps.createWebStoreElement());
 
   data.apps.slice(0, MAX_MINIVIEW_ITEMS).forEach(function(app) {
     appsMiniview.appendChild(apps.createMiniviewElement(app));
   });
 
+  appsSection.classList.remove('disabled');
   layoutSections();
 }
 
 var apps = {
   /**
    * @this {!HTMLAnchorElement}
    */
   handleClick_: function() {
     var launchType = '';
     var inputElements = document.querySelectorAll(
@@ skipping 101 matching lines @@
   },
 
   createWebStoreElement: function() {
     return this.createElement_({
       'id': 'web-store-entry',
       'name': localStrings.getString('web_store_title'),
       'launch_url': localStrings.getString('web_store_url')
     });
   }
 };